newbie here, need advices on combination of ls

[rikkuzx]

hello all, new to this hobby. currently cycling my 1.5 ft x 1 ft tank. need some advices on which livestock can be kept together.

wish to keep the following together.

a pair of false percula

1-2 small blue tang --> i know this will overgrow the tank in no time but wish to keep those small ones for now

a couple of damelfish or maybe some firefly and gobies or some other small fishes

also, some cleaner shrimp if possible and snails.

some corals for decoration and hopefully a host for the percula --> need advice on which species that can be kept with the fish and require low maintenance.

is this over bioload, consider the small tank that i have now? thanks.

[TayHongSiang]

hello all, new to this hobby. currently cycling my 1.5 ft x 1 ft tank. need some advices on which livestock can be kept together.

wish to keep the following together.

a pair of false percula

1-2 small blue tang --> i know this will overgrow the tank in no time but wish to keep those small ones for now

a couple of damelfish or maybe some firefly and gobies or some other small fishes

also, some cleaner shrimp if possible and snails.

some corals for decoration and hopefully a host for the percula --> need advice on which species that can be kept with the fish and require low maintenance.

is this over bioload, consider the small tank that i have now? thanks.

bioload too heavy...i would suggest not to keep damsels. A fair of perculas and one or 2 gobies will be just nice with the shrimps and small snails.

[iskay]

Bio-overload lah, bro. You should consider only Nano fishes. you can check out the nano fish section in liveaquaria.com to get acquainted with nano fishes. Firefishes are perennial favourites for nanos because they are colorful and takes up prominent positions in your tank. Gobies are less conspicuous but they have lots of character. Clowns are a mainstay in most tanks.

Tangs are Ich magnets and will easily get Ich in such a small tank where the water parameters are more difficult to keep. Save yourself the trouble, ditch your idea of having them.

You can never go wrong with snails and shrimps cleaning up after your fishes. Just remember that Snails and hermits do not mix. It's either one or the other.

[rikkuzx]

thanks for the comments, will ditch the idea of keeping tangs. btw why should i better not keep damsel? any particular reason for that? thanks. and also if i want to keep hermit crabs, will the hermit crabs bite the fishes?

[FuEl]

Damsels get very territorial and will claim the whole tank as their own. Instead of percula clownfish, I would recommend ocellaris clownfish as they are more docile generally.

Do research on the species of hermit crabs to buy. There are only a couple of reef safe ones, generally staying rather small. These are mainly herbivorous and eat algae.

[iskay]

Regarding Hermit crabs... They need change of shells as they grow. Snails are the only source of new shells... Get it? There are hermits that we considered reef-safe but snails and hermits crabs generally cannot be in the same tank unless it's a big tank.

About Damsels... Besides being aggressive, they are impossible to catch without tearing down your whole tank.

[rikkuzx]

thanks for the fast reply. didnt know damsel are aggresive, thought clownfish are the more aggresive ones. will get false percula.

[Fuzzy]

I would not recommend a pair of perculas in a tank this small. A single small specimen is probably the limit for a 1.5 x 1 x 1 ft tank.

[rikkuzx]

actually my main purpose of setting up a marine tank is to keep clownfish so i would definitely get a pair even if i had to give up the others. any suggestion to maintain optimal environment for them?

btw, i have a hang-on filter which i took out the cartridge and add a layer of activated carbon, lava rocks, bio rings, and filter wool. others addition are another common filter which act as my wavemaker (since i have a small tank) and also a bag of bio rings under the HOF. is this ok for now? or any other media that i should get instead?

my dad wanted me to get a few liverock for now and then get the others later on so this explain why i have so little liverocks.

filter

pest anemone - anyone can tell me how to remove this? can i just pluck it out? thanks.

[rikkuzx]

btw how fast do these pest anemone move? one second it was there and now i cant see it there anymore. any chance that it could have been eaten by a catfish i caught from the sea?

[iskay]

btw how fast do these pest anemone move? one second it was there and now i cant see it there anymore. any chance that it could have been eaten by a catfish i caught from the sea?

These pest anemones are called Aptasia. They spread fast and are good at killing corals with their stings. There's lots of solutions - Joe's Juice seems to be effective and a choice of reefers here. You can try to kill it off by injecting it with boiling water. Don't pinch it with tweezers, you'll just break it off to many pieces and each piece has the potential to become a new pest anemone.

[Fuzzy]

I can vouch for the efficacy of Joes Juice also. It works amazingly well.

Also when your aiptasia "vanishes" chances are that it didn't move. They can retract to very small sizes (hard to spot visually) check back in an hour or so and you should

see it back at the exact same spot.

Best advice I can give you if you're dead set on having a pair of clowns in this tank. Don't have more than 1 or 2 more _small_ fish (under 5cm maximum)

And be prepared to rehome them in a bigger tank or give them up for adoption when the clowns get too big for this tank.

[iskay]

What's your ceramic rings doing in a sac? I think you should get rid of them. it's unsightly and serves no good purpose. I don't think you need lava rock in a marine aquarium. It's mostly for fresh water setups.

Btw, with your planned amount of bioload, I think you should get a canister filter. It increases total water volume and is a good home for useful bacteria. Such bacteria grows better in a darkened environment like a canister. Your HOF is more of less transparent.

Your filtration sequence is not optimal. Recomended filtration setup: Water exiting tank - mechanical filter, biological filter, skimmer, chemical filter - water enters tank.

mechanical filter - ceramic rings, filter wool.

biological filter - liverock, live sand, biohome, bioballs, etc...

skimmer - Protein skimmer

chemical filter - carbon, phosban, Rowaphos, sulphur, etc...

You can dont have the last 2 but the first 2 are must-haves.

Regarding LR. Yes, you can get more later but make sure you get cured LR. Uncured ones will cure in your tank and foul up your tank.

[pweesng]

What's your ceramic rings doing in a sac? I think you should get rid of them. it's unsightly and serves no good purpose. I don't think you need lava rock in a marine aquarium. It's mostly for fresh water setups.

Btw, with your planned amount of bioload, I think you should get a canister filter. It increases total water volume and is a good home for useful bacteria. Such bacteria grows better in a darkened environment like a canister. Your HOF is more of less transparent.

Your filtration sequence is not optimal. Recomended filtration setup: Water exiting tank - mechanical filter, biological filter, skimmer, chemical filter - water enters tank.

mechanical filter - ceramic rings, filter wool.

biological filter - liverock, live sand, biohome, bioballs, etc...

skimmer - Protein skimmer

chemical filter - carbon, phosban, Rowaphos, sulphur, etc...

You can dont have the last 2 but the first 2 are must-haves.

Regarding LR. Yes, you can get more later but make sure you get cured LR. Uncured ones will cure in your tank and foul up your tank.

Hi! I am also new, but with regards to your response above, can i clarify about the veramic rings?

Previously, in FW Tank, Ceramic Rings are used in place of Biohomes, because they are cheaper and thus can afford in quantity. They were never meant for mechanical filtering.

Doesn't ceramic rings allows marine biological bacteria to grow in them as well?

[iskay]

Hi! I am also new, but with regards to your response above, can i clarify about the veramic rings?

Previously, in FW Tank, Ceramic Rings are used in place of Biohomes, because they are cheaper and thus can afford in quantity. They were never meant for mechanical filtering.

Doesn't ceramic rings allows marine biological bacteria to grow in them as well?

Hi there. Hope we are referring to the same 'ceramic rings'. I am referring to the ceramic rings as sold by Eheim - a highly respected manufacturer of canister filters. They are classified as Mechanical media rather than Biological.

See for yourself:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Of course these rings can and will harbour biobac but not as effective as biological media because they are not as porous. In fact, anything in your tank can harbour biobac.

IMO, biological media is more about quality than quantity. I'll prefer to use a small amount of biological media if it can do the job of a lot of ceramic rings.

Lastly, there are may sources of information about this hobby but not all are reliable. If possible, always refer to the products manufacturers for information.

[Fuzzy]

Hi! I am also new, but with regards to your response above, can i clarify about the veramic rings?

Previously, in FW Tank, Ceramic Rings are used in place of Biohomes, because they are cheaper and thus can afford in quantity. They were never meant for mechanical filtering.

Doesn't ceramic rings allows marine biological bacteria to grow in them as well?

Ceramic rings and bioballs if not cleaned regularly can turn into nitrate producing factories in marine tanks.

[rikkuzx]

acutally the bag of ceramic rings is placed there to stop the filter from making bubbles and also to grow bacteria. im thinking of canister but im still a student and is on a tight budget so i cant get any expensive equipments or those that use a lot of electricity.

im thinking of reducing the bioload to just a pair of false percula and some cleaner crews. is it possible for the tank?

[tribe172]

hello all, new to this hobby. currently cycling my 1.5 ft x 1 ft tank. need some advices on which livestock can be kept together.

wish to keep the following together.

a pair of false percula

1-2 small blue tang --> i know this will overgrow the tank in no time but wish to keep those small ones for now

a couple of damelfish or maybe some firefly and gobies or some other small fishes

also, some cleaner shrimp if possible and snails.

some corals for decoration and hopefully a host for the percula --> need advice on which species that can be kept with the fish and require low maintenance.

is this over bioload, consider the small tank that i have now? thanks. <img src="http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

definitely bioload overload!

[Guest]

you definitly need a skimmer to run a successful marine setup even though you might just want to keep some clown fish.. Unless you can change water every week ..